One year after Cherish Perrywinkle: Father speaks out, Diena Thompson defends Rayne Perrywinkle

1Will.Dickey@Jacksonville.com--06/28/13--Billy Jarreau, father of eight-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle, leaves the church with his wife Irina after Cherish's funeral Friday, May 28, 2013 at Paxon Revival Center Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Cherish was abducted and killed last Friday night. (The Florida Times-Union, Will Dickey)

Will.Dickey@Jacksonville.com--06/23/13--Rayne Perrywinkle (right) bows her head during a service for her daughter Cherish, while her boyfriend Aharon Pearson holds her daughters Nevaeh (left), 3 and Destiny, 5, at Highlands Baptist Church Sunday, June 23, 2013 Jacksonville, Florida. Cherish was found murdered near the church on Saturday. (The Florida Times-Union, Will Dickey)

Will.Dickey@Jacksonville.com--06/23/13--A memorial for Cherish Perrywinkle, 8, has grown outside Highlands Baptist Church Sunday, June 23, 2013 Jacksonville, Florida. Cherish was found murdered near the church on Saturday. (The Florida Times-Union, Will Dickey)

Bruce.Lipsky@jacksonville.com--10/14/13--Cherish Lily Perrywinkle was one of the new names were marked with a white flower. The 18th annual "Remembrance: A Tribute to Our Children Lost to Violence" was held at Unity Plaza on the campus of Terry Parker High on Monday, October 14, 2013. Twenty new names were added to the plaza. (Florida Times-Union/Bruce Lipsky)

Will.Dickey@Jacksonville.com--08/22/13--Donald James Smith enters the courtroom for an appearance Thursday, August 22, 2013 in Jacksonville, Florida. He is accused of abducting and killing 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in June. (The Florida Times-Union, Will Dickey)

One year ago, Jacksonville learned about Cherish Lily Perrywinkle — a cute 8-year-old girl with big brown eyes who was killed after a chance meeting with a repeat sex offender.

Donald James Smith, 57, is accused of kidnapping, strangling and raping Cherish on June 21, 2013, after befriending the girl’s mother, Rayne Perrywinkle, at a Northside dollar store.

In part because of Cherish’s death, state lawmakers increased punishments this spring for sex offenders and added tough new measures that allow the courts to commit them to a state facility even after they finish serving their time.

The aftermath of Cherish’s death left some families undoubtedly watching their children closer, the image of a little girl being snatched from a department store playing over and over in the minds.

Many blame Perrywinkle for her daughter’s death because she allowed a strange man near her children.

Attempts to reach Perrywinkle for comment were unsuccessful.

Yet, another mother who endured the same violent loss of a daughter doesn’t believe anyone has the right to blame Perrywinkle for Cherish’s death.

Rayne Perrywinkle’s decisions that night still haunt her, said her friend Diena Thompson, whose own 7-year-old daughter, Somer, was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Orange Park almost five years ago.

Thompson said she speaks or texts with Rayne Perrywinkle often and provides emotional support.

“There are people who like to talk about things they have no business talking about,” she said. “… She didn’t go out that day and think that her child was going to get abducted, raped and murdered. She didn’t mean for that to happen.”

HURT ALWAYS THERE

Thompson said she tells Perrywinkle the hurt doesn’t go away.

Thompson said she learned to live with it although she still cries.

“I just tell her it’s possible to make it through this,” she said. “… I try to tell her if the roles were reversed and she could look down on her children, would she want them here crying all the time.”

Some things still trigger the anguish.

Somer (pronounced summer) had taken a bag of roasted pumpkin seeds to class the day she died. Her mother used to love them. Now, she can’t stand the sight of them.

Thompson said people should not blame Perrywinkle. She is a victim, too.

Blame Smith, said Thompson. “We need to blame the actual people responsible for the crime,” she said. “Not the victim, not the victim’s parents, not law enforcement. …”

Smith gained the family’s trust with the promise of a trip to Wal-Mart with a $100 gift card, Perrywinkle said previously.

Perrywinkle loaded Cherish and her other two daughters into Smith’s mother’s van late that night, and then rode to Wal-Mart.

Police said Smith separated the mother from Cherish by offering to buy the girl a hamburger from McDonald’s. She was found within hours near a creek off Broward Road, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Smith had been released from state custody just three weeks prior to Cherish’s death.

CHILDREN REMOVED

Following Cherish’s death, the Department of Children and Families removed Perrywinkle’s two other children from her home.

A dependency hearing was held this week in the case, according to a group advocating adoption for the children.

The group wore stickers that featured a picture of Cherish’s two half sisters and the word adoption underneath their faces Friday at the courthouse. The group operates the Facebook page Team Destiny and Nevaeh.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Hamlow said a dependency hearing scheduled for Friday was moved to August. The group posted about the Friday court hearing for the last two weeks on social media and had about 20 to 25 members demonstrating at the courthouse.

She said the girls are in foster care, and that Perrywinkle regained her visitation rights.

Children and Families refused comment on the status of the case. Agency spokesman John Harrell said the department couldn’t because of state confidentiality laws.

Smith is charged with premeditated murder, armed kidnapping and sexual battery on a victim under 12. His trial could begin as soon as October.

“I just hope he [Smith] gets what he deserves,” said Billy Jarreau, Cherish’s biological father.

Jarreau fought Perrywinkle for custody of Cherish for years.

“I don’t know how to handle this,” he said of her death. “It eats me up every day.”

THE FATHER

Jarreau, who lives in California, told the Times-Union he saw his daughter last after a plane ride back to Jacksonville in late August 2012 after having her at his home for the summer. Jarreau said he was stationed in Jacksonville until he retired from the Navy in 2009.

Jarreau said he met Perrywinkle at SOS Gentlemen’s Club, a strip club at San Juan Avenue and U.S. 17. He said he was divorced and he made mistakes. He said he bought her a drink at the strip club and ended up taking her home, which culminated in a one-night stand, he said.

He said Perrywinkle came to him later to tell him she was pregnant and the child was his. He said he would need a paternity test to prove it.

“She told me, ‘You should know it’s your child,’ ” he said. He said she refused a paternity test, and Jarreau cut all contact with her and said he wasn’t the father.

“It was wrong to do that,” he said. “I should have hired a lawyer.”

He said he never regretted having a daughter, just that Perrywinkle was the mother.

He said about three years later the state contacted him for child support. A paternity test proved he was the father in 2007.

Cherish was 3, he said, resulting in about $20,000 of back child support payments. He said by June 2013 he had paid every dime of that $20,000.

Jarreau said he remarried, but was still living in Jacksonville when the custody dispute began. A judge granted him weekend visitation.

When his current wife, now a lieutenant in the Navy, was stationed in San Diego, Jarreau had to take Perrywinkle back to court again. He said the order didn’t say he could take Cherish over state lines, and Perrywinkle said she didn’t have to send her daughter. He said he won summer visitation rights.

Cherish’s first visit to California was her last. Jarreau said their relationship needed work, but he thought she had fun.

“I could see where I was starting to become dad,” he said.

Pictures on Jarreau’s Facebook profile show Cherish sitting on a bench with a half brother smiling. There are pictures of Disneyland, the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam.

“Every weekend was a different road trip,” he said.

NOT A SURPRISE

He said he always believed Perrywinkle would end up losing custody of Cherish. He thought she wouldn’t be able to keep a stable house or something else would happen and he would end up with his daughter.

He said he might have been naive but he expected more from child protective services.

At one point, a child services evaluator recommended he gain custody of his daughter, but a judge decided to keep Cherish with her mother.

He said he sometimes finds it hard to believe Cherish is dead. “I only had her for one summer and a bunch of weekends,” Jarreau said.

On that trip back, he recalled reading a book to her and playing hand games. He said he could tell she wanted to be back in Jacksonville.

“This was just a vacation for her,” he said. “… We needed more time together.”

He remembered walking out of the airport to where a van picked up Cherish.

“She got in and I kissed her, and that was it,” he said.

Jarreau said he would try to do things differently.

“There was only one innocent person in this situation and that was Cherish,” Jarreau said. “We all had our faults.”